Bush puts pressure on Arab allies as Powell trip ends in humiliation

American efforts to broker a new ceasefire in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ended in humiliation for the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, yesterday. He was forced to return home with neither a truce nor any evidence that Israel is ending its siege of Palestinian cities in the West Bank.

In a speech to the Virginia Military Institute, President George Bush claimed that Mr Powell had made "progress toward peace", but gave few details of what that progress entailed.

But in a sign of growing Arab anger at the US failure to rein in Israel, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt - one of Washington's closest Arab allies - abruptly cancelled a scheduled meeting with Mr Powell in Cairo, in what was seen as a snub following the failure of his mission.

As the secretary of state flew home, the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, continued to launch new military incursions into Palestinian villages and neighbourhoods, including several in Jerusalem itself. The latest incursions came despite repeated calls from Mr Bush and Mr Powell for Israel to "withdraw immediately" from Palestinian cities.

Mr Powell left the Middle East armed only with the promise from Mr Sharon that Israel was "preparing" to withdraw "within the next few days or a week". Justifying his departure with so little accomplished, Mr Powell said: "I came here not knowing how long the [military] operation would go. I leave here able to say ... it wasn't immediate, but it is now coming to an end."

The Jordanian prime minister, Ali Abul-Ragheb, warned that the collapse of Mr Powell's mission would have "grave consequences on the region".

Mr Bush's remarks, however, appeared aimed at lowering expectations of US influence and shifting the responsibility for curbing the violence on to Washington's Arab allies.

His only reference to Israel's responsibilities was a call for it to "continue its withdrawals". He mentioned no timetable. Meanwhile he said the Palestinian Authority "must act on its words of condemnation against terror", and called on Arab states "to step up to their responsibilities".

"The Egyptians and Jordanians and Saudis have helped in the wider war on terrorism, and they must help confront terrorism in the Middle East," Mr Bush said. "All parties must say clearly that a murderer is not a martyr; he or she is just a murderer."

His remarks, suggesting that the three key US allies in the Arab world had not done all they could to restrain violence, reflected frustration within the US administration at the cool reception offered to Mr Powell by Arab leaders.

Mr Powell said he urged Israel to ease its confinement of Yasser Arafat and to allow the Palestinian leader to communicate with the outside world. But as the secretary of state left, a furious Mr Arafat raged at Israel for confining him to his Ramallah headquarters. "I have to ask the whole world, I have to ask President Bush, I have to ask the United Nations, is this acceptable that I can't go outside from this door?" he said.

The two Israeli withdrawals seen so far, from the towns of Tulkaram and Qalqilya, were a "sham", Mr Arafat said. Rather than withdraw, the Israelis were reoccupying towns they had previously left. "They are continuing their aggression against the Palestinian people."

Israel blamed Mr Arafat for refusing to sign a ceasefire, but Mr Powell told a news conference that the term could become relevant only when Israel ended its offensive.

Mr Bush first called on April 4 for Israel to start withdrawing its troops, saying that "enough is enough".

Despite Mr Sharon's continuing public defiance of an ally which gives Israel some $3bn (£2bn) in aid annually, Mr Powell reserved his strongest words for Mr Arafat. He said he was dismayed at the Palestinian leader's failure to halt violence, and that the Palestinian Authority had to work to end "terrorism".

"We believe all along that he [Mr Arafat] could have done more, and I have made it as clear as I can to him that we are, and have been, disappointed with his performance," Mr Powell told a news conference. "It is time for him to make a strategic choice."

Despite the blows that Mr Powell has taken in the past seven days, he said that he planned to return to the region to continue his peace efforts. He did not give a date.

Mr Bush yesterday signed a routine six-monthly order continuing US funding of the Palestinian Authority, but a White House official said that Mr Arafat's actions would be monitored closely before the order was renewed in six months time.

"Our patience isn't bottomless," the official said.

In Mr Bush's speech yesterday, intended as a progress report on the administration's "war on terrorism", the president renewed a pledge to eliminate weapons of mass destruction in the hands of those it deems to be "rogue states", particularly Iraq, Iran and North Korea.

Bruising ride

April 8, Morocco Powell publicly rebuked by Moroccan King Mohammed VI, for week-long delay in going to Israel.

April 11, Israel Powell's arrival overshadowed by death of six Israelis in Haifa suicide bombing, and Israel's ongoing campaign in Jenin. First meeting with Sharon fails to secure withdrawal of Israeli forces from West Bank.

April 13, Ramallah Meets Arafat in rubble of his Ramallah compound. Powell says meeting "useful" but unable to break impasse.

April 15, Lebanon and Syria Powell fails to persuade the two governments to stop backing Hizbullah in southern Lebanon.